Commercial development heats up around 215 ‘curve’ in southwest Las Vegas

Developers and retailers are again flocking to the section of the 215 Beltway near South Durango Road that was stunted by the recession, and other developers in the area are following suit. “What’s happening in the southwest now is what was happing in 2005 or 2006,” said David J. Tina, president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. “Not in a bad way, in a positive way.”

By Madelyn Reese / View

August 22, 2017 - 9:09 am

Remington Nevada continues to make progress on four new shopping centers around the valley, including the Albertsons-anchored site near the Mountain’s Edge community. (Remington Nevada)

Rendering of the Mountains Edge Marketplace. (Courtesy)

“The curve” is where everyone wants to be.

Developers and retailers are again flocking to the section of the 215 Beltway near South Durango Road that was stunted by the recession, and other developers in the area are following suit.

“What’s happening in the southwest now is what was happening in 2005 or 2006,” said David J. Tina, president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. “Not in a bad way, in a positive way.”

The areas of the Southwest and Henderson along the Beltway is advantageous for developers because of its visibility, Tina said.

“It’s a great place to have a commercial space becase you have people that are passing it all day, every day” on their way to work between Summerlin and Green Valley. GLVAR headquarters are also moving to a spot between Sunset and South Rainbow Boulevards, from the association’s location on East Sahara Avenue. Tina said it reflects the increasing number of members who live and work near that area.

Walker Furniture is scheduled to break ground next to rival furniture dealer Ikea, near Durango and Sunset Road, within two months, according to Walker marketing director Patti Gerace. It will be about a year before the store opens.

The company chose to build there because of the area’s “tremendous” growth, Gerace said. And Walker is not concerned about competing with Ikea for customers.

“They’re a totally different market than ours … We actually will benefit off of each other,” Gerace said.

At Durango and West Post Road is a retail development set to break ground this month, the 5-acre Durango Post Pavilion. It is set to have 30,000 square feet of retail, including a Green Valley Grocery.

“I think the southwest is booming with a lot of new residential developments, and commercial real estate typically follows residential development,” said Remington Nevada broker Tom Fehrman, who represents the property.

Remington Nevada also represents the Mountains Edge Marketplace, a 25-acre commercial development at Blue Diamond Road and South Buffalo Drive, which is anchored by Albertsons.

Tenants already have signed lease agreements for the property’s unbuilt structures, Fehrman said, though he declined to name them, citing nondisclosure agreements in the leases.

Despite all this growth, Tina said, the southwest still lacks a focal point.

“It needs a Downtown Summerlin. I’d be reluctant to say it needs a casino, but it needs a hub,” Tina said. Nonetheless, Tina believes that the curve is “going to blow up commercially,” within the next three years.

“They’ll fill in that space and it’s going to be the hub for the southwest,” Tina said.

The percentage of single-family homes on the market for one month or less climbed to 67 percent in July from 57 percent a year earlier. The median price of new homes also increased to $274,000 from $250,000 in the same time.

Condo and townhouse units are also moving quickly, with more than 74 percent of inventory staying on the market for less than a month, compared with nearly 52 percent a year ago.

Robert Jones, coordinator of K-12 library services with the Clark County School District, said 20 schools and about 60 students participated in the Bristlecone Storytelling Festival. The festival, in its 18th year, was held April 29-May 1 at Windmill Library, West Charleston Library and Whitney Library. It featured memorized storytelling from Clark County School District fourth- through sixth-graders.

As final exams rapidly approach, some College of Southern Nevada students are studying hard, noses buried in books; others decide to take a break and de-stress by petting therapy dogs and cats. A partnership between Pet Partners of Las Vegas, a nonprofit, and the College of Southern Nevada lets students de-stress with trained therapy dogs and cats on all three campuses prior to finals week.

Sixty-two Clark High School band members and 102 orchestra musicians hopped on a redeye flight on April 9, heading to a performance of a lifetime in front of about 500 people at Carnegie Hall in New York City.